


The Time it Takes to Grow

by rockthecliche



Category: Johnny's Entertainment, NewS (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-03
Updated: 2012-02-03
Packaged: 2017-10-30 13:30:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/332252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rockthecliche/pseuds/rockthecliche
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>I get lost in the seconds / as the minutes pass by / ... but they're the days I felt alive.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Time it Takes to Grow

**Author's Note:**

> I just felt like writing NEWS all of a sudden, mostly because I hadn't written them in awhile and most of my fics due for exchanges are...well, are not NEWS. Props to Zoe who gave me awesome prompts to work with (Saturday at 3AM, doorways, paper crowns, red sky)!

For that one split second before Massu blew out his birthday candles, he swept his eyes around the room, beaming from ear to ear, glowing at the adults he knew -- like his dad, his mom, his uncle who always had his Polaroid camera, his aunt who was trying to pay attention to him but couldn't get the baby in her arms to stop fussing. His eyes also met those of the other adults, too, like the nice lady who ran the small candy shop in the neighborhood's shopping district, or the elderly couple that lived next door who never complained whenever Massu's ball ended up in their yard. He kept looking and eventually, his eyes made their way around the variety of eccentric and colorful people in his life. He felt a warmth bloom in his chest, spreading out to the tips of his fingers and to the ends of his hair. All he could do was smile; in all his five years of life, he hadn't expected so many people to come to his small, quaint birthday party, the first one he ever mustered the courage to ask for.

Time kicks in -- he breathes in deep and blows his candles out. There's a few flashes in quick succession, no doubt the cameras of both his parents and Uncle Polaroid, and his sister shoves his face into his cake. All he can think to do is giggle, wipe the frosting off his face and into his sister's hair, and his handmade construction paper crown falls onto the floor as he chases her around.

Really, he doesn't think he could be happier.

 

Ten years later, when the elderly couple moves out of their house next door and a new family moves in, Massu isn't sure what he feels about this drastic change in his life. It sounds ridiculous -- they were only _neighbors_ , his sister's voice mocks him, who really cares? -- but they weren't just neighbors, they were part of his life. He remembers being invited over on musty summer days when his mom would make him go outside, he'd sit in the doorway of the candy shop until a few hours passed or until the grandma next door wandered by, that day's groceries in hand, and took pity on him, ushering him into their house, full of the delightful sin of central air-conditioning. He would sit and drink delicious iced tea and watch old war movies with the grandpa as grandma made dinner, listening to the grandpa's stories about the old days, where things like cell phones and computers and central air-conditioning systems didn't exist.

It's reminiscent of those war movies, Massu thinks as he helps them pack their last few boxes into their son's truck. The doors are going to close, grandma's going to hand the keys over to his mom to give to the new residents when they move in, and they'll wave as the truck drives off into the rising sun. His mom pats his shoulder and tells him to get ready for school and disappears back into their house. Massu follows soon after, and that's the last day he thinks about the elderly couple next door.

A few weeks later, his mom tells him as he's eating breakfast that the new family will be moving in next door that day, and they have a son about Massu's age. His father just nods, eyes glued to the morning news, as his sister whines about how terrible her luck is, that the son isn't _her_ age. His mom shushes her and tells them both to try to get home a little early -- she was going to invite the new family over for dinner, stating that they should make a good first impression since they'll be neighbors. Massu eats his toast, reminds his mother that he has swim practice after school so he'll be home late, and waves over his shoulder to his parents as he leaves for school with his sister.

He, thankfully, misses dinner. Maybe it's just as well -- there's a message on his phone when he checks from his sister telling him all about this new family that she can't even understand because of all the Kansaiben being thrown around. The whining continues even when Massu's at home, his sister blabbing in his ear as he heats up the leftovers his mom saved for him. 

"He's going to a different school, though, so don't worry, you won't have to meet up with the guy very often." His sister says. She swipes a piece of his chicken. He just glares at her.

 

He and Nishikido Ryo end up not being friends. Actually, they don't really get along at all.

Massu isn't sure why, actually. It's not like they actively hate each other...far from it. In fact, they're civil whenever their families get together for dinners and they politely make small talk, but...well, Massu would never invite the guy to a swim meet of his. But he's relatively okay with this; Nishikido might as well register himself as 'lonely musician' instead of 'student' as an occupation and Massu's just an earnest high school student focusing on his swimming to get him somewhere. Their friends clash, their hobbies clash, their styles of dress clash -- _they_ clash, and so the only thing they silently expect each other to do about it is to just grin and bear the time they're forced to spend together.

It's three in the morning, a time of day Massu is usually never awake for, but he blames it on the bus breaking down on the way back home from the training camp his swim team went on. He trudges through the streets at a brisk walk, the town eerie and the night air stifling with humidity; all he wants to do is to get home and collapse on the sofa in the living room and sleep for the entire day. As he's drawing closer to his house, however, there's a slight lilting melody in the air; he brushes it off as him being overtired and delirious enough to imagine things, but it just gets louder -- he keeps walking down his street and there, in the dim moonlight and the lamp in front of the gate to his house, there's a figure sitting there, guitar in hand.

"...Nishikido-kun?" Massu ventures.

Nishikido looks up and actually looks shocked to see him. "Masuda? What are you doing up? Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"...isn't it weird to be playing the guitar by yourself in front of your house at three in the morning?" Massu replies.

"You might have a point." Nishikido shrugs. "So, let's hear it. What sort of illicit activities were you up to?"

Massu frowns. "My bus broke down on the way back from my training camp."

"Leave it to you to have some wholesome sounding response." Nishikido snorts, playing a few chords.

"...so what are you doing out here?" Massu asks.

Nishikido's silent for a few moments, just concentrating on getting the right fingering, tuning and tweaking the sound. "...I got dumped today."

And for some reason, Massu couldn't help but laugh. He chortles a little bit, trying to keep it down so he doesn't wake anyone up or offend the other too much, but...

"Are you laughing at me?" Nishikido asks, an almost bewildered look on his face.

Massu shrugs, gaining control over his giggles. "...leave it to you to be out here for some strangely dramatic and romantic reason."

Nishikido studies him, looks him up and down, tilts his head to the side. It's almost enough to make Massu uncomfortable but the other's expression changes into a small chuckle at the last moment. "I guess I fit that bill pretty well."

"...I guess I fit mine pretty well, too." Massu pauses, letting himself give Nishikido a genuine smile. He adjusts the strap to his overnight bag and gestures to his house. "Anyway...I'll be going inside now."

"Yeah. See you whenever," Nishikido nods to him, going back to his guitar.

Massu nods in return and unlocks the gate to his house. He takes a few steps in, then turns around and peers at Nishikido through the fencing. "Hey."

"What?"

"...don't stay out here too long. You look like a creeper."

 

As he's slicing through the water in his lane, Massu usually has a pretty good idea of his time thus far; he's always had a natural sense of rhythm and time, so fine tuned that eventually, his teammates stopped placing bets on whether he could accurately predict what his lap time would be because he always won. For the first half of each lap, he soaks everything in -- the splash of the other swimmers around him, the sound of his arms cutting through the water as he pushes forward, his heartbeat thumping loudly in his ears, the dull roar of the crowd watching, cheering. The second half of the lap, his skills kick in and he catches up if necessary, or he figures he can pace himself and take it easy if he's ahead. It's a relatively good system.

Because of this, when he's three-fourths done with his race, he knows he has it in the bag. His freestyle is his best stroke, after all, and so far, this is the fastest he's ever swam this particular race. So unless something drastic happens, like the swimmer in the next aisle veering off course and crashing into him, there's no way he's losing. This is his, and he's ending his high school career with a bang and life...life is good.

He lifts his head up, breaking through the surface after his hand touches the wall; he slips off his goggles and looks up. The first thing he sees once his eyes adjust is his mother waving frantically from the stands and his father clapping earnestly next to her. Even his sister looks kind of proud, but in that way that says she's clearly trying to look bored at the same time. Her boyfriend _is_ actually bored, though, or at least looks it with the way he's checking his watch. Regardless, Massu reaches an arm up and waves at them, beaming, and the first thought in his mind is that it's a shame Uncle Polaroid is missing.

At his celebration dinner, he gets a message from Nishikido, offering to take him out for some congratulatory okonomiyaki some other day, and he better say 'yes' because this is the only time he's going to offer.

So Massu says 'yes' and as he's putting his phone away, he thinks for the second time that night...life is good.


End file.
